Benefits agency re-examining 460 fraud cases over illegally collected data

The benefits agency UWV is re-opening 460 closed fraud cases to examine whether a controversial fraud algorithm played a decisive role in declaring the people involved guilty, Minister Karien van Gennip of Social Affairs and Employment wrote to parliament. This follows the revelation that the benefits agency used illegally collected data of all visitors to UWV sites for the algorithm.

It involves 460 cases in which the persons involved were fined, had their benefits discontinued, or were ordered to repay all or part of the benefits received. The UWV will examine whether the data used in these investigations was obtained lawfully, a spokesperson for the agency told NOS.

In July, the broadcaster revealed that the UWV placed cookies to collect data from everyone who visits UWV.nl and Werk.nl, including their IP addresses, and used that data for its fraud algorithm. If people logged into one of those sites on a given device once, all their subsequent visits could be linked to them whether they logged in or not.

The UWV has since shut down the system but kept the data, Van Gennip wrote to parliament. The agency is willing to delete that data now but will need some of it to reassess the 460 cases.

Parliamentarians Hind Dekker-Abdulaziz (D66) and Stephan van Baarle (DENK) also asked the Minister to make public exactly what criteria the UWV’s fraud algorithm used to select suspects, but Van Gennip declined to do so because it could jeopardize the investigation. She will inform parliament about that confidentially, she said.

Dekker-Abdulaziz told NOS it was good that the UWV would reassess the 460 cases. “But it remains worrying that the UWV does not want to provide transparency about the algorithms used.” Organizations must clearly explain what data they collect about people and why, she said.